Crane and the like apparatus mounted on rails



Oct. 17, 1950 E. J. VARDA cam AND THE LIKE APPARATUS uounmn on RAILSFiled July 11, 1947 4 sheetssheet 1 INVfNTOR 005: /AN VARDA I) T RIVI YOct. 17, 1950 E. J. VARDA 2,526,307

CRANE AND THE LIKE APPARATUS MOUNTED 0N RAILS Filed July 11, 1947 4Sheets-Sheet 2 igxz.

' hww A T TORNEX Oct. 17, 1950 E. J. VARDA 2,526,307

CRANE AND THE LIKE APPARATUS MOUNTED 0N RAILS Filed July 11, 1947 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 17, 1950 E. J. VARDA 2,525,307

CRANE AND THE LIKE APPARATUS MOUNTED 0N RAILS Filed July 11, 1947 4Sheets-Sheet 4 INI- EN TOR. [UGENEz/EAA/ V4204 A TTOR/VE Y Patented Oct.17, 1950 CRANE AND THE LIKE APPARATUS MOUNTED ON RAILS Eugene JeanVarda, Paris, France Application July 11, 1947, Serial No. 760,238inFrance February 16, 1946 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946Patent expires February 16, 1966 Claims. l

The present invention relates to heavy and bulky apparatus adapted torun on spaced railway tracks. The movement of heavy and bulky apparatus,such for example as heavy cranes, over spaced railway tracks involvesseries difficulties by reason of variations in the spacing of saidtracks arising, for example,'from variations in curvature of the tracks,as at the junction of a curved track section with a straight section.These difiiculties are accentuated when it is desired to reduce to aminimum the endwise motion of the axles, i. e. the play allowed thelatter in a transverse direction with reference to' the rails.

Variousmeans have heretofore been proposed for obviatin these drawbacks.However, the previously proposed solutions leave much to be desired,chiefly on account of the relatively great endwise motion which it isstill necessary to allow the axle. This endwise motion leadstoobjectionable wear by reason of the friction of the axles in theirbearings. Because of this, an attempt has been made to reduce frictionby inserting anti-friction rollers between'the frame of the apparatusand the carriages that support it. However, this arrangement leads toconstructional complications and has not been found to be entirelysatisfactory.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these difficultiesand to provide a firm, steady and strong support for the load to becarried while at the same time permitting free movement of the apparatusover the tracks despite variation-in curvature of the tracks andvariation in spacing and without objectionable endwise motion of theaxles in their bearings.

In accordance with the present invention, a rigid platform or frameworkis carried on vertically extending supports which in turn are supportedby trucks running on the spaced tracks. The supports resting on thetrucks onv one of the tracks are rigidly connected with the platformwhile the supports resting on the trucks on the other'track are hingedlyconnected to the platform to swing about an axisapproximately parallelto the tracks. The supports are swivelly mounted'for universal movementon the respective trucks. With this arrangement, the supports that arepivotally secured to the platform are capable of swinging in a directiontransverse to the tracks, thereby allowing the respective trucks tofollow the variations in the spacing of the tracks without imparting anysubstantial endwise motion to the axles of the trucks.

The friction produced by variations in the spacing of the tracks, as forexample when the apparatus passes over a portion connectinga straightportion of the track with a curved portion, is thus reduced merely tothe friction 'between the pivoting members by which the supports at oneside of the platform are connected to the platform. As the angle throughwhich the pivoted supports swing is very small and becomes still smalleras the height of the platform above the tracks is increased, thefriction in insignificant.

With the arrangement in accordance with my invention, it is possible tolay out the tracks as simple arcs of a circle that merge directly intothe rectilinear portion of the track, thereby eliminating the necessityof using spirals or other complicated curves. The construction of thetracks is thereby considerably cheaper, without this leading in any wayto high lateral pressure between the rails and the flanges of thewheels.

My invention is readily applicable to the construction of apparatus ofconsiderable size and weight, such as cranes capable of raising loads oftons and capable of rolling over curved tracks of comparatively smallradius, for example a radius of 30 meters, and of a comparatively widegauge or spacing between the tracks of, for example, 10 meters.

The invention will be more fully understood from thefollowing'description in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswhich show, by way of example, a 150-ton crane rolling over a hairpintrack laid out around a dry dock hav ing a breadth of about 55 meters.In the drawings Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the crane.-

Figs. 2 and 3 are front and side views, respectively, of the frameworkcarrying the platformof the crane. V

Fig. 4 is a plan View of a portion of the tracks surrounding one end ofthe dry dock with a schematic representation of the crane platform invarious positions.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view, partially in side elevation and partially inlongitudinal section; of one of the trucks and the adjacent portions ofa leg supporting the platform. 1

Fig. 6 is a plan view of this truck; and

Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are transverse sections taken respectively "on thelines l-l, 8-8, 9-9 and l0l0 in Fig. 5.

In the example illustrated in the drawings, the framework includes arigid rectangular platform 11 carried by four legs orsupports b, b5:

and c, c disposed respectively adjacent the four corners of the platformand resting on corresponding carriages or trucks (1, d, e and 6 rollingon corresponding tracks, each composed of a pair of rails j and g, g,respectively.

The legs 'or supports 1) and b resting on carriages d and (1' running onthe track 1, are rigidly connected at their upper ends to the platforma. The upper ends of the legs or supports 0, c which are carried by thetrucks e, e on the track g, g are pivotally secured to the platform a bypivotal connections or hinges having an axis l, I. These legs may henceswing freely and independently of one another about the said axis withreference to the platform a and the rigid supports 22, b to the extentallowed by the length of an elongated slot 2 provided in each of thecross-beams h, h pivotally secured at p to the supports b, b (Fig. 2).

In the form shown in the drawings, each of the carriages d, d, e and eincludes four elementary carriages 3, each having two axles with a pairof wheels on each axle. The corresponding legs b, b, c and c' whichsupport the platform a rest on these trucks through the agency of a mainbeam 5, the ends of which are supported by auxiliary beams 6 which arecarried in their turn by two of the elementary trucks 3. The bearings ofthese superimposed parts include pivotal members of any suitable kindthat allow the wheels of the trucks to follow the corresponding railsboth with respect to direction in a horizontal path and also withrespect to predetermined or fortuitous changes of level, whereby theload on each support may be distributed as evenly as possibleover thesixteen wheels of the truck. For this purpose, I may provide on eachcarriage a double pivot, one of which is vertical While the other has ahorizontal axis parallel to the tracks, or else I may provide aspherical joint. Similarly, the main beams 5' and auxiliary beams 6 ofthe trucks are secured together so as to be capable of rocking withreference to one another and to the supports 2), b, c, within suitablelimits around two axes perpendicular to the axis of the trackrespectively in a vertical and in a horizontal direction.

1 -'As illustrated in the drawing (Fig. the main beam 5 of each truck issupported at its opposite ends by ball and socket joints 1 on theauxiliary beams 6. In its central portion the beam 5 has a recess H. Thelower end of the leg, for example the leg I) has an extension or footportion 8 which is received in this recess and is supported by a balland socket joint 9 (Figs. 5 and "1) provided at the bottom of the recessin the beam 5. Bolts. l2 and. I3 which connect the parts of the ball andsocket joints 1 and 9 (Figs. 5, '7 and 8) are sufficiently loose intheir holes to permit the relatively small amount of movementrequiredbetween the two parts of the bearing.

In the examples considered, the rails f, f, g, g are arranged alonglines drawn as simply as possible. The inner track comprises twoparallel rails f; f separated by a distance of 1.2 meters and has arectilinear portion AB extending along either-side of the dry dock and acurved portion BC in which the rails are laid along circular arcscoaxial with one another, with the center 0 located on the axis of thedry dock and with the radii of the arcs equal to 29.4 meters and 30.6meters respectively. The arcuate portions of the track join with therectilinear portions at B.

The outer track likewise comprises two rails separated by a distance of1.2 meters and. has 8.

rectilinear portion DE and an arcuate portion EF in which the rails arelaid along concentric circular arcs having radii equal, respectively, to39.25 meters and 40.45 meters and a center 0' which is located about0.15 meter from the above mentioned center 0 on the longitudinal axis ofthe dry dock. The arcuate track portions join the rectilinear portionstangentially at E. Consequently, the spacing between the axes of therectilinear tracks is about 10 meters whereas in the curved portionsthis distance decreases gradually from 10 to about 9.85 meters.

In Fig. 4, the apparatus appears as a rectangle 12 meters long and 10meters wide (on the same scale as the tracks). The letters 17, b, c, cat the corners of the rectangle indicate the positions of thecorresponding supporting legs. In the position I in which all the wheelsare on rectilinear rails, the axes of the four supports are allvertical. As the front of the apparatus en'- gages the curved tracksuponmovement in the direction of the arrow, the outer supports c-c' areconstrained to move gradually away from the supports b, 2) until theapparatus arrives in the position II. As it passes beyond that point,the supports come nearer to one another and return to their normalspacing of 10 meters in position III. The maximum lateral displacementof the front support 0 under such conditions is about 0.15 meter andthat of the rear support 0' is about 0.07 meter. If the axis l-i of thehinges connecting the upper ends of the legs 0, c tothe platform areassumed to lie at about 11 meters above the rails, the swinging of thelegs 0, c is about 1. The angular movement of the supports 0, c' is thusvery small and the frictional forces in the hinges connecting thesupports to the platform are comparatively unimportant. .If required,these forces may be still further reduced through the use ofanti-friction bearings. The several supports are held rigidlyiin thedirection of the track through suitable braces such as i. In Fig. 3,there are shown three braces comprising two angular braces and ahorizontal brace. The latter is op tional and, if used, ,is pivotallyconnected with the legs c and c", as shown. Similarly, the supports b, bare also held rigid in a transverse direction by suitable stay members,such as 7c (Fig. 2).

It should be observed that the values herein given for the weight, sizeand number of the different elements are given solely by way of exampleand it is possible to increase or reduce the same to a greater or lesserextent without modifying the principal characteristics of the inventionas herein disclosed and defined in the accompanying claims. Theinvention, moreover, is not limited .to hoisting apparatus but isapplicable to any apparatus -of a large size and considerable weightintended to move over tracks having curves, the radii of which varybetween wide limits, whatever may be the shape of these curves and thebreadth and length of the apparatus. Instead of having two rigidsupports and two pivoted supports, as shown, the apparatus may obviouslyinclude different numbers of supports. Similarly, the number of trucksand wheels may vary within the load limits of their design.

What I claim is:

1. Heavy and bulky apparatus adapted to run along two spaced railwaytracks comprising two trucks running on each track, each of said truckshaving a plurality of axles, a rectangular platform above the trucks, aleg extending up from each of the trucks to the'platform for supportingthe platform, the bottom end of each leg being provided with a bearingof spherical section resting on a correspondingly shaped bearing on therespective truck, the two legs resting on the trucks on one of thetracks being rigidly connected with the platform and the two legsresting on the trucks on the other track being individually hinged tothe platform at theirupper ends to permit said latter legs to swing in adirection crosswise to the track.

2. In apparatus according to claim 1, means.

for limiting the swinging of said hinged legs comprising'a brace whichextends between each of the hinged legs and the opposite rigid leg, saidbrace'being hingedly connected with one of the legs between which itextends and having a pin and slot connection withthe other. 7

3. In heavy and bulky apparatus adapted to run on spaced railway tracksincluding straight portions and curved portions, the combination of apair of trucks on each of the tracks, a rigid platform above saidtrucks, supports for said platform swivelly supported for universalmovement on the trucks on one track and rigidly connected to theplatform and other supports for said platform swivelly supported foruniversal movement on the trucks on the other track and hingedlyconnected to the platform to swing about an axis approximately parallelto the tracks.

4. In heavy and bulky apparatus adapted to run on spaced railway tracks,the combination of a pair of trucks on each track, a rigid platformabove the trucks, a pair of legs supported respectively on the trucks onone track, said legs being rigidly connected with the platform andswivelly mounted for universal movement on said trucks, members forbracing said legs both longitudinally and transversely of the platform,a, second pair of legs swivelly supported for universal movementrespectively on the trucks on the other track and hingedly connected tothe platform at their upper ends to swing about an axis approximatelyparallel to said second track and members for bracing said second pairof legs in the plane of said legs.

5. In apparatus according to claim 4, means for limiting the swingingmovement of said second pair of legs.

- EUGENE 'JEAN VARDA.

No references cited.

